The Owatonna wrestling team finished their regular season last Friday when they hosted defending class AA State Champions Kasson-Mantorville. The dual between the Huskies, ranked 7th (AAA) and the KoMets, ranked 5th (AA), was streamed live on the web by MN/USA Wrestling for the public to watch.The night began with a 32-24 Owatonna junior varsity win. JV coach Scott Seykora was very pleased with the team’s performance. Seykora said, “We were in a lot of close matches. The guys wrestled tough. We went in and got after it.” Following the JV competition, all of the wrestlers and their parents were recognized on the mat for parent’s night. The seniors were also individually recognized for senior night.

The bleachers were filled to the brim with fans. The student section was filled with many OHS students who came out to support their classmates. The support given played a very large role in many of the matches. Cheers of the wrestler’s name representing Owatonna were chanted loud and proud all evening.

The highly anticipated dual lived up to all expectations. To start out the dual, Owatonna had all of the momentum. After the 138 pound weight class bout, which resulted in a technical fall from freshman Brandon Moen, the Huskies led 23-3. The big lead was backed by early wins from Tanner Cole, Brenden Buryska, Chandler Bauer and Alex Green. The KoMets, however, erased the big deficit with wins at 145 and 152. At 160, senior Tyler Sorenson wrestled a six minute battle, ending with him as the victor. Despite being behind for nearly the whole match, Sorenson overcame the adversity and edged his opponent with just seconds to go. The crowd erupted as Sorenson put his opponent on his back, to taking the lead and keeping it. Sorenson said, “It was a great feeling. It’s nice getting a big win for the team in a big dual.” Unfortunately, that was the last win of the night for the Huskies. Seniors Hunter Jirele, 195 and Logan Johnson, 220 both lost close matches. The Huskies fell in the final 5 matches of the dual and were closely defeated by the KoMets of Kasson-Mantorville by a score of 30-26. The team’s main focus is on team sections, which begins with the Huskies hosting Rochester Century on Thursday, Feb. 13.